CLOVER. 



90 



CLOVER. 



County Fair, at Madison. 1 inquired of the owner, 

 Mr. Woodward, how he liked it, and if it was a 

 profitable crop. He said he got four bushels of 

 seed per aere, and sold it at *10 per bushel; that 

 the hay, after being hulled, was better than the 

 best red-clover hay, and that his cattle ate it in 

 preference to any other hay. 1 boujrht two bush" 

 els of the seed and sowed about one bushel lo 

 twelve acres, mixing one-third timothy, by mea- 

 sure, where I wanted it for pasture or hay, and 

 about the same quantity of pure alsike where I 

 wanted it for seed. It does not raise sped the same 

 year it is sown, but, like red clover, the next year. 

 I have sown it with wheat, barley, and oats. Tt 

 does best with spring wheat or barley. 



I hulled 110 bushels this year from 30 acres. 1 ex- 

 pect to get !J7.00 per bushel, and 1 have at least 25 

 tons of good hay, after hulling, worth enough to 

 pay all expenses of cutting and hulling. Some 

 years ago 1 sold my whole crop on the Board of 

 Trade in Chicago for $11.00 per bushel. 



Mr. George Harding, of Waukesha, a breeder of 

 Cotswold sheep and short-horn cattle, and one of 

 Wisconsin's most wide-awake farmers, showed me 

 a small field of one of his neighbors that he said 

 produced seven bushels of alsike seed per aere, 

 and that he sold it in Milwaukee for $13.00 per 

 bushel. 1 have 80 acres in alsike; and so long as it 

 pays me as well as it has done, I will sow it. 



The first crop the next year after sowing is the 

 seed crop. It can be cut for seed for several years. 

 It is not a biennial plant like red clover, but a per- 

 ennial. It has one tap root with many branches, 

 and does not heave up by frost, like red clover, 

 which has but one tap root. 



I prefer it to red clover for several reasons. 

 When sown with timothy it matures with it. 

 (Medium red clover matures before timothy is fit 

 to cut.) I cut about the 10th :o l.'jth of July: red 

 clover should be cut (here) about the 30th of June, 

 Alsike is not easily injured by dew or light rnms 

 after being cut. It has none of the " fuzz ' that 

 red-clover has, making it so unpleasant to handle 

 as hay or seed. The stem is not so coarse nor so 

 hollow, and has more branches, leav es, and blos- 

 soms. The blossom is of a pink color. Red clover 

 must be cut when we are in the busiest time work- 

 ing our corn. Alsike is cut after corn work Is 

 over. This is of great advantage in a coi-n region. 



Alsike makes a good fall pasture after the seed 

 is cut. My stock will eat it in preference to red 

 clover, timothy, or blue grass. Blue grass, or, as it 

 is often called in this country, June grass, is a 

 good early and late grass, but in midsummer it 

 dries up; and had it not been for clover we should 

 have been badly off for pasture this dry year. 

 Dane Co., Wis. (Hon.) Matt. Anderson. 



The next, from Gleanings in Bee Culture, 

 Vol. XIV., page 327, is of so much impor- 

 tance in regard to raising alsike, or other 

 honey-yielding plants, that we give it here 

 entire : 



A SUGGESTION TO BEE-KEEPERS IN REGARD TO 



HAVING AI.SIKE RAISED BY THE FARMERS 



OF THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD. 



I have managed to supplement the natural sup- 

 plies for my bees during the last five or six years as 

 follows: I first tried sweet clover with but poor 

 success, so I took up alsike clover, and this is the 

 way I work: 



About this time of the year I buy from 200 to 400 

 lbs. of best alsike clover seed in Montreal at whole- 

 sale price. This j'car I can get it for 12 cts., perhaps 

 less. I expect to buy my supply next week. It will 

 cost me '/i ct. freight, and I shall probably sell it 

 to the farmers who are within two miles of my apia- 

 r\i, for 10 cts. per lb. At this price it is readily 

 taken up by all who are " seediug down " land suit- 

 able for alsike, as the price in the stores here is 

 from Mi to 18 cts. Thi'ee pounds mixed with tim- 

 othy will seed an acre very well, so you see I get 

 pasturage which will last from two to five years, of 

 the very best quality of honey, at the small cost of 

 $7.50 for one hundred acres. I can not conceive of 

 any plan which, with me, would be cheaper, less 

 trouble, or that would give as quick and reliable re- 

 turns. I could get a good deal of seed used by sell- 

 ing it at cost; but I find that taking off two or three 

 cents per pound makes a great difference in the 

 amount sown. As white and alsike clover are the 

 most reliable honey-plants we have here — very 

 rarely failing entirely— the results have been very 

 marked and satisfactory. 



To those who wish to try this plan I would say, 

 Work up the matter personally; canvass every 

 farmer within two miles and more in every direc- 

 tion from your apiary (those living more than two 

 miles should pay cost of seed), showing them a 

 sample of your seed, pointing out its advantages, 

 etc. Although alsike-clover hay will not weigh so 

 heavy as red clover, it is far sweeter and better, and 

 all stock much prefer it to eat. One pound of seed, 

 also, will go as far as two pounds of red clover, as 

 the seeds are so much smaller. 



Canvassing the farmei'S should be done at once, 

 as every good farmer plans his work and buys Ids 

 seed early. After you have finished canvassing, 

 add up your orders, send to a reliable seedsman, dis- 

 tribute, and get pay for your seed, and your work 

 for the season is done; but it should be repeated 

 every season, to enlarge your "base of supply" a-< 

 much as possible. Of course, you will have to wail 

 one season before the alsike will bloom. 



In localities where different apiaries are near t( - 

 gether, if the seed is furnished under cost the par- 

 ties should make up the amount of the difference 

 pro rata, according to the number of colonies they 

 have. 



A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT SOWING ALSIKE. 



First, get the very best seed you can find. Poor 

 seed is an abomination. Don't sow it on dry, sandy 

 land, for alsike delights in a moist soil. 



This simple plan of increasing pasturage may not 

 be new, but 1 never heard it mentioned, though 

 doubtless some have tried it. 



Danville, Quebec, Can. Geo. O. Goodhue. 



We need hardly add, that the above plan 

 can be carried out with buckwheat, rape, 

 and any other honey-yielding plants that are 

 of value to farmers. 



Some bee-keepers are beginning to find 

 that it pays to furnish alsike-clover seed free 

 of charge to their neighbors within a mile or 

 a mile and a half of their bee-yards, be- 

 cause, they aver, when the seed is once in 

 the soil the plant continues to reseed itself 

 so it will spread all through the farming 

 country, both to enrich the farmer, giving 



